American Express Report on Customer Service: The Hard Facts

Last year, American Express released a troubling report on customer service all over the world (http://about.americanexpress.com/news/docs/2012x/AXP_2012GCSB_US.pdf). Experts since have been debating the consequences of its findings, but the facts nevertheless remain. As the study outlined, “nearly a third of consumers believe that, in this current economy, businesses ‘pay less attention to providing good customer service,’ a significant increase over the year before…” Furthermore, as this study and several others have reiterated, at least 33% indicated they’d be willing to spend 5% more for a product or service that included strong customer care. A full 15% indicated they’d be willing to spend 20% or more. Those numbers translate into real dollars. Dare to be different. Customer service counts, and with it, you can expect greater profitability from consumers who can tell that you really care.